Tony Peter has started where his championship-winning father Paul left off.
After taking his trainers license out late last year he had a winner with his first runner in January.
He currently has 12 wins at the highest strike rate on the national trainers log, 29.27%.
His first feature win was with What A Winter four-year-old filly Cold Fact in the Non-Black Type Bauhinia handicap for fillies and mares over 1000m on February 26.
On Saturday he landed his first stakes win with the Klawervlei Stud-bred Rafeef filly Leaving Las Vegas, who won the Grade 3 Pretty Polly Stakes over 1100m on the Turffontein Standside track.
Jumping from draw two under Dennis Schwarz, she came out quickest but was soon joined by the favourite Elegant Ice (What A Winter) and Woman Of Fame (What A Winter) on the outside.
Elegant Ice stretched into the lead at the halfway mark but Leaving Las Vegas went with her.
In the closing stages these two became involved in an exciting duel and it was Leaving Las Vegas who emerged the victor by a quarter of a length.
Both Leaving Las Vegas and Elegant Ice carried 3kg penalties for having won a race and only third-placed Woman Of Fame, who was receiving 3kg from the former pair, finished close, beaten 1,25 lengths.
The rest of the field was beaten 9,50 lengths and more.
Furthermore, the time of 65,54 seconds was just 0,36 seconds slower than the time of the colts race.
The first two should make an impact for the rest of the season, while Woman Of Fame has had three seconds and is also a decent sort.
Leaving Las Vegas ran in the familiar red and white colours of Johnny Peters’ Hyperpaint Syndicate, although she is also part-owned by Ian Levitan and A Lang.
Leaving Las Vegas was purchased on the Cape Premier Yearling Sale for R150,000.
She is out of the one-time winning Trippi mare Seeking Venus, who won on debut in the April of her three-year-old season over 1000m on Turffontein Inside, but that proved to be her only career win in eleven starts.
